Please help!!

[Bebyy]

Petunia is 4 months old and we got her from petco on monday! She is very sweet except the fact that she bites...HARD! At first it was nibbles but not anymore... she constantly wants to be on our shoulders, it seems like thats all she wants to do is sit on our shoulders. And i know at times that can be bad. But shes to the point now where, she bites and holds on for dear life! She has drawn blood twice now and i need any help at all! New to conures!!

 

[Pionus]

Hello. Welcome to the forum. And congrats on your new baby conure!

The first bit of advise I can give you is to stop letting her on your shoulder. Period. If she bites, you don't want her near your face. You also do not want her on a place where you have very little control over her.

Second, try not to pet her too much at first if she is not comfortable with it. Baby birds are normally pretty accepting of being handled and don't always put up a protest right away. Then suddenly they learn they can bite, and voila, a new way to communicate!
Start by stroking her feet, or her beak and see if she likes that. Then you can move on the her legs, her head, her neck, etc. But you'll want to move slowly and not make her uncomfortable.

Third, when she bites you, do your best not to react. Especially with drama reactions where you go "OWW!". This makes the bird excited and more stimulated as well as can make them think its a new 'game' or way to make you react.

As for anything else... You'd have to give more specific information such as:
When does she bite?
Are you touching her when she bites you?
Does she bite just your hands or other parts of you too?
Does she let you touch different parts of her (comfortably) and if so which parts?
Etc...

I let my pionus on my shoulder all the time. But he has never bitten me. My lovebird on the other hand is not allowed on ANYONE's shoulder as she is very nippy and will draw blood if things do not go her way.

 

[wildheart]

Saw your welcome thread and thought I'd say Welcome here.

I agree 100% with Pionus and yes, please give more info. How much does Petunia trust you? Is she stepping up for you onto your hand?

She is just a little baby, just like a human toddler and needs guidance from you.

Step back and dont see the biting as a PROBLEM but only as a learning stage. When she is on your hand and start walking up your arm then just put your other hand in front of her so she has to step up again. She will soon get tired of trying to go to your shoulder. Also give her a treat when she stops to try and tell her she is a good girl.

Are you following a routine with her? A routine is a perfect way of trust building, she will trust the routine and in the process start to trust you.

 

[Bebyy]

Well first off, thank you both! lol

Petunia is funny, she loves to have her head and under her wings scratched, she doesnt seem fearful of our hands what so ever. And she steps up, and down, (well, not so much, down, she wants to be with us constantly) very well! It just seems she wants to use them as a chew toy!

Biggest issue i guess you would say, is she will sit on our hand (nicely) until she starts trying to go to our shoulder so we stop her by puttin her on our hand, then she gets upset when she 'doesnt get her way.' And starts biting, and holding on. And she pinch bites..which is awful

But we also understand shes a baby an they go through very nippy stages.

-Punishment- as soon as she bites we say "NO" if she stops for a good minute we'll give her a treat but if she persist we put her in her cage (which she hates) turn out the lights abd leave the room for 10-30 minutes. It seems to work but i suppose itll just take time.

Plus we got her from petco, i can only imagine people poking at her abd messing with her, so yeah...

Sorry this is so long!

 

[Crazy4Birds]

It sounds like you are on the right track. It is good that you are giving her positive reinforcement when she stops biting and that she has a little time out when she persists. At this point just be patient and with time she will soon learn. Eventually when she learns that her behavior is not going to get her what she wants you can then let her go on your shoulders again. My sun conure loves to snuggle against my neck and tries to bathe in my hair when it is wet. It's quite comical! Conures are such fun and energetic little creatures. With time you will be able to establish a strong, loving bond with your little one! Enjoy it now, they are the most fun when they are babies, just wait until the "terrible twos"!

 

[Bebyy]

Well its good to hear that we are on the right track! Its just such a delicate situation lol we want to let her know that what shes doing is wrong but we dont want to accidentaly do something that will make her hate us but she is such a sweet little baby, when shes not trying to rip your flesh off ha

And its really adorable watching her learn to use her beak. (for instance) I have her a little slice of apple for the first time and she had no idea how to eat it, but a few peices later she got the hang of how to use her beak to tear peices off, it was rather amusing really! So i know shes trying to learn to use her beak and see what it can do, but also kind of testing us at the same time.

 

[Bebyy]

...so not looking forward to terrible 2s haha

 

[Kokihi]

My little Green cheek did almost the same thing for a while. He would bounce at my keyboard for a little while trying to tell me he wanted to go there, when I wouldn't put him on my computer he would get agitated and bite the tip of my finger. He loves going in his cage because I make sure to keep the kinds of toys he likes to play with (BELLS) there, so I put him on the ground for a bit. When its ok for him to come back, I put my foot on the ground and he climbs back up my cloths onto my shoulder. I try not to play with him by my computer, but my room is small, so he sees it anyway some times.

 

[vedwed]

Our GCC Sky is the same age, and funny enough came from petco as well lol.

He has yet to draw blood but you can see that he is testing his beak, and his limits with it hehe. Sky is very trusting with everyone in my family, all the way down to our 7 year old daughter, he loves her, but he can get beaky sometimes, he seems to respond well to a stern "BE GENTLE" and goes off to try and softly bite some other area of my hand, but he isn't a constant biter, now our amazon Oliver on the other hand, well lets just say now that it is about mating season for him, my hands stay well clear of him lol unless he asks me for scratches.

Step up was really easy with Sky, he knew it already, and I swear when you put your finger and say "step up" he squaks it back, not real words, but the exact tone i say it in, kinda cute and my shoulder is his favorite spot, thankfully he doesn't test his beaky limits up near my ears

 

[Bebyy]

Vedwed, Petunia is the same, but i just worry that if she is too comfortable on my shoulder she'll never want to trust hands but she steps up very well, just not coming off the shoulder. Thats her favorite spot an she pretty much refuses to do anything she doesnt wanna do lol

 

[Pionus]

Vedwed, Petunia is the same, but i just worry that if she is too comfortable on my shoulder she'll never want to trust hands but she steps up very well, just not coming off the shoulder. Thats her favorite spot an she pretty much refuses to do anything she doesnt wanna do lol

That's why I encourage you to try only handling her with your hands, and not letting her on your shoulder at all. Another thing I'm not sure if other people use this or not with their birds:
Baby has a "temper toy." When he seems frustrated with something, or a little grumpy I bring out this tiny toy guitar that is actually a baby rattle. Its a hard plastic yellow guitar that has little plastic balls in it that make the most obnoxious noise... Anyway, I rattle it, baby attacks it, I praise him. (Remember... praise for attacking the toy not your hand. Also watch your fingers cause they can miss-aim.)

This toy gives Baby something to vent his frustration out on and lose a bit of energy as well. He will literally attack this thing and toss it around, run after it and attack it some more.

Sometimes everyone needs an outlet and its our job as parrot parents to teach our fids the appropriate outlets!


Also: He only gets this toy when he's out of his cage and I think he needs an extra outlet, more than his other toy will give him. He now attacks the toy with gusto! I let him at it till he feels more calm and tired. Any feed back on this from other parrot owners? Never heard of anyone else using this method but it works fantastic for me and Baby.

 

[MikeyTN]

Pionus, my macaw would beat on his toys to rid his frustration as well, so yes I agree!!! Better that then my hands....lol

 

[Pionus]

Pionus, my macaw would beat on his toys to rid his frustration as well, so yes I agree!!! Better that then my hands....lol

I'm so thankful every day Baby is not very destructive (Even for birds his size) Well.... except for cardboard. He LOVES to chew cardboard. Beware oh cereal boxes, Baby is on the prowl! lol!

Oh, and thanks for agreeing. I laugh and laugh at people who come into the store and go "Oh I don't want to buy that for my dog/bird/etc cause he'll just destroy it." Um... DUH! That's what its for

 

[Bebyy]

That's why I encourage you to try only handling her with your hands, and not letting her on your shoulder at all. Another thing I'm not sure if other people use this or not with their birds:
Baby has a "temper toy." When he seems frustrated with something, or a little grumpy I bring out this tiny toy guitar that is actually a baby rattle. Its a hard plastic yellow guitar that has little plastic balls in it that make the most obnoxious noise... Anyway, I rattle it, baby attacks it, I praise him. (Remember... praise for attacking the toy not your hand. Also watch your fingers cause they can miss-aim.)

I think a light bulb just went off in my head lol she has a 'temper toy' but i havent given her a treat when she beats up on it instead of me ha will definatly do this thank you!